Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen
Saving lives is more important than taking them.

Bearing the weight of the people, the Young Master Song understood how to prioritize. He handed Cui Er over to Fu Yin and stepped forward to receive the others. Though not skilled in medicine, it made no difference to those carried out from the dark room—whether treated medically or not, the outcome would be the same.

Even a divine healer could not mend a body worn down to a single breath by torture.

Song Yunzhí clearly saw the woman in Qian Tong’s arms. Her eyes were unlike any he had seen in the dying before—filled with panic and desperate pleading.

It was the faintest, most desperate grasp of life from the weak.

He found himself lost in those unfamiliar eyes, unable to look away.

Qian Tong thought he was a fool.

Who would stare so intently into the eyes of someone near death? Was he not afraid of nightmares?

She pulled a medicine bottle from her pocket, tore open the woman’s trouser leg to reveal a rotted wound, and calmly sprinkled medicinal powder on it. She spoke softly, “Don’t worry. He’s from Jinling, a famous divine healer. Tonight, not only will he heal you, but he will save you all.”

Before life, people need hope even more than medicine.

The woman’s gaze finally shifted, slowly moving away from Song Yunzhí’s face and turning toward Qian Tong.

Smiling, Qian Tong chatted casually, “What’s your name? Where are you from? When you get better, I’ll send you home. If you have no family, come work for me. I am the seventh lady of the Qian family. We have money. Working for me means no beatings, no locking you in a room. You’ll eat well and dress warmly every day. And you’ll earn two taels of silver each month. If you have a child, two taels a month is... twenty-four taels a year. That’s enough to support them...”

As she spoke, the panic in the woman’s eyes gradually faded, replaced by the vision of a brighter future Qian Tong promised. Hope sparked little by little before she finally closed her eyes under Song Yunzhí’s gaze.

Qian Tong covered her damaged leg and put away the medicine bottle. She rose and headed to the next person, dragging a youth who crouched motionless. She whispered, “Don’t stare into someone’s eyes for too long. You’ll get trapped too. She’s dead, but you’re still alive.”

She was powerless against these innocent lives.

The only thing she could do was ease their fears before death.

So that if there was a next life, they wouldn’t be timid souls.

That was her good deed. For all her efforts, she hoped that in the next life, heaven would bless her to be born into a wealthy merchant family again, to be rich.

She feared poverty.

Song Yunzhí ignored the warning and looked again into her eyes.

The girl’s expression was calm, unlike others who showed fear, despair, or sorrow. When she looked at the patients, there was no pity—only a smile as she sent them on their last journey. She understood what they wanted and what she could give.

She was more complex than he had imagined.

Song Yunzhí stared into those eyes for a long time, even longer than when he looked at the woman before. For the first time, an absurd hope arose in him—that she stood on the side of righteousness. Though her actions tonight had a selfish streak, he would look kindly upon her deeds and spare her this once.

—

Late into the night, members of the Qian family knocked on the clinic’s door one by one. Doctors arrived in succession and were all moved by the horrific scene.

The unspeakable atrocities and the victims’ pitiful state shattered the façade of peace in Dayu’s most prosperous capital. At dawn, a thick stain of filth marred the city’s appearance.

—

Qian Tong gathered the identity tokens Song Yunzhí had thrown to the ground, placing them back into the wooden box and handing it to him. “I need to go out for a while. Wait here for the officials to arrive and give this to them.”

The tokens would help verify the identities of those involved.

Daylight came quickly. The Cui family’s crimes would be exposed with nowhere left to hide. Even though the eldest son had many connections, they could not suppress this.

At least on the court’s path, the Cui family had reached their end.

The eldest son would now have to turn to the Park family.

Qian Tong glanced at the disheveled young man before her. She might not return for the next two days and instructed him, “After you hand this over, go home and rest well. I’m leaving.”

The youth didn’t move.

When he turned his head, all he saw was a blood-spattered background like blooming crabapple flowers fading into a hazy blue horizon.

After Qian Tong left, she told Fu Yin to drag Cui Er onto the carriage.

Luckily, the wooden box the young master Song had thrown was slightly off target and didn’t strike his head, leaving him alive.

But the box did crash down hard enough to paralyze him. Only his eyes could move. When he saw her, Cui Er struggled to force out a few words: “Qian... Tong... you’ll... have a bad...”

“Bad death? That’s you now.” Qian Tong poked his face with her toe, cursing, “A beast is a beast from birth. If I’d known you’d become such a disaster, I should have killed you as a child... Who are you glaring at? You pathetic mess, I’ve tormented you eight hundred times since childhood and you still won’t give up? Scum, do you know what awaits you next?”

Her eyes suddenly turned cold as ice. Leaning close, she sliced into him like a sharp blade, “The Cui family will be destroyed. Your father, mother, and whole family will be imprisoned. But you don’t have to worry about your mother loving your brother more—because your brother will abandon you all and run. But don’t worry, I’ll catch him and make sure your family reunites.”

Qian Tong glanced coldly at his arms and legs. “Then, who knows how many limbs you’ll have left.” She saw the fear she wanted in his eyes, pulled her foot away with disgust, and instructed Fu Yin, “Take him to the Cui household. When the lady returns, have him crippled.”

Back at the Qian residence, the sky was already bright.

Qian Tong washed the blood off, changed her clothes, counted the survivors, and went toward the door.

Halfway, she met the third madam. After last night’s chaos, news had spread quickly. Early morning, the third madam was restless and hurried over as soon as she heard Qian Tong had returned. Upon meeting, she asked, “Tong, has your eldest sister come back yet?”

Qian Tong replied, “Fu Yin went to fetch her. If you’re free, tidy up the house and get rid of the bad luck before she arrives.”

The third madam nodded repeatedly, “Alright, alright. Where are you going? Be careful on the road.” Although there were many conflicts in the Qian family’s third branch, everyone united when it came to major matters.

The Cui family’s inhuman deeds had tormented her spirit sister, who had been trapped in a fiery pit for five years.

Good riddance. With their downfall, her spirit sister could finally return.

Without looking back, Qian Tong said, “Understood.”

—

At dawn, the first official to arrive at the pawnshop was Magistrate Zhang.

Entering, he immediately saw Young Master Song sitting in the courtyard, bloodied, quietly waiting with the wooden box in his hands. Zhang’s vision dimmed, his knees buckled uncontrollably, and he collapsed, babbling, “I am ashamed before His Majesty and the people. I deserve to die...”

When Prefect Lan arrived, he found Zhang kneeling on the ground, bowing and confessing.

Lan accused him of putting on an act again, mocking who he was trying to fool so early in the morning. But when he looked up and saw the neatly arranged corpses in the courtyard, his head began to buzz as well.

—

The Cui family had no one with any brains.

Fools.

A tavern, a pawnshop—disasters one after another. If the Cui family wanted to die, they should at least not drag others down with them.

Such a brutal massacre at this critical moment was nothing short of provocation against the court.

What you fear comes to pass.

Before Prefect Lan could move the bodies and cover the scene, court officials arrived early. One hundred ironclad cavalry entered Yangzhou’s territory only to be stopped by kneeling citizens pleading and crying out about the Cui family’s terrible crimes.

After Song Yunzhí and Shen Che left in disguise, only a deputy from the Court of Justice remained. To cover their tracks, he led the cavalry along the official roads.

Hearing the news, he went straight to the pawnshop to receive this ‘welcome gift.’

Seeing Song Yunzhí’s appearance, the deputy was stunned but pretended not to recognize him. He called for Prefect Lan to inquire, “What happened?”

Lan’s vest was soaked through with sweat. He stepped forward to greet the official, “Sir, thank you for your hard work. Please rest at the office first. I will make sure this matter is addressed...”

The deputy ignored him and took charge personally, questioning witnesses in the courtyard one by one.

Half an hour later, one hundred ironclad cavalry carried out the bodies of the brutally murdered, alive or dead alike, and took them to the prefecture office. Song Yunzhí, as a ‘witness’ from the Qian family, was also summoned to the office.

Once the back door of a room closed, Deputy Wang Zhao knelt and said, “Young Master...”

The blood on his robe had congealed into a dark purple. Song Yunzhí’s reddened eyes were filled with icy killing intent. He handed the wooden box to Wang Zhao. “Investigate when the pawnshop opened. Apart from Cui Yunfang, no one else was involved. The dens are not just one; find them all.”

Wang Zhao stood, knowing plans had changed, and asked, “Young Master, shall we take action?”

Originally, the court forces planned to start with the Qian family upon arriving in Yangzhou. The Qian family’s salt permits were about to expire, and they would rush to the court to request new ones. Using this as leverage, they intended to draw out the Park family.

The other two major families were strong on the outside but weak within, not worth worrying about.

But unexpectedly, the Cui family jumped out first, desperate to die.

Song Yunzhí knew perfectly how the Cui family had come to this. “The Cui family must die,” he said without hesitation. Nonetheless, he had something even more important to obtain.

The Cui family was smuggling.

And a section of the rear harbor in Yangzhou fell under the jurisdiction of the Park family.

Today was cloudy, the time unclear—probably noon. A silhouette flashed through his mind. After sitting silently in the dim light for a moment, Song Yunzhí instructed, “The seventh lady of the Qian family will intercept the Cui family’s cargo ship at the rear harbor tomorrow night. Take your men and lie in wait. Protect the goods on that ship at all costs.”

At this moment, the youth was no longer the seventh young master of the Qian family. He was the heir of the Marquisate, a court official. Every drop of blood on him from last night was enough to uphold justice and eliminate evil for the people.

He said, “If she tries to steal it, kill her.”

He hoped she would take care.